Windrush Compensation Scheme

Lord Cameron of Lochiel Excerpts

Tuesday 2nd June 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)]

The two factors may not necessarily be similar. There may be individuals who engage legal support and end up getting the claim they would have had anyway, whether they had that support or not. The scheme was designed not to have necessarily a barrier of legal representation; that is why we have put in help and support for claimants, but legal representation is not required. We are looking at all times at how we can simplify the scheme, but I caution the noble Lord against presuming that legal representation in this case means a higher claim. It may be that the claim was justified in the first place, as we view all claims on an individual basis for each claimant.

[Lord Cameron of Lochiel (Con)]

There has been much commentary on the relatively high rejection rates for the Windrush compensation scheme. Subsequently, there have been calls for the Home Office to relax its criteria. It is of course imperative that the scheme is not open to exploitation and that compensation is paid only to those who are genuinely eligible. Can the Minister confirm that the Government will ensure that the criteria the Home Office uses will remain robust and fair, and applied consistently and equitably to all applicants?

[Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)]

Yes, I can, I hope, assure the noble Lord on that. As I said to the noble Baroness, Lady Benjamin, the Government made a number of changes in January 2026 to try to improve the scheme and make sure that people still have access to it in a simpler way. Those changes have also meant, as I said in earlier answers, that 94% of all claims have reached a final decision. We have speeded up the claims from taking four months in 2024 to less than six weeks now. On where there are appeals on those claims and reviews asked for, there have been, for example, 2,656 requests for review of tier 1 decisions, 504 of which resulted in a change of the claim. On tier 2 applications there have been 747 requests, of which 116 resulted in changes, so there is, I hope, a fair and equitable scheme. We want to see people applying for the scheme. We continue to receive around 140 claims a month and there is no end date to the scheme, so we want to make sure that people get the compensation they deserve.